Double Dog Double IPA | Flying Dog Brewery

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Reviews by atsprings:

On-tap at Sawmill Taproom served in a standard pint glass a slightly murky dark orange with a decent off-white head. Aroma is citrus hops and caramel malts. The taste is a nice blend of caramel malts and bitter pine hops. The beer is fairly heavy bodied with plenty of sticky alcohol. This one is a fairly enjoyable sipper.

More User Reviews:

I was very glad to stumble across this beer. It has a whopping 11.5% ABV which is crazy awesome and something that I have been looking for. Most beers are for wimps and pussies, but this one is a real man’s drink. This beast will put some hair on your chest and if you can’t take it, then you will run crying to your mommy.

Look-It pours a beautiful dark amber color with light copper hues in the right light. The head starts out thick and foamy with huge bubbles mixed among silky miniscule bubbles. It then quickly subsides and dissipates into a vanishingly thin head. The lacing is drooping and fine. The clarity is noticeably clear.

Smell-It smells of Vermont pancake syrup, strong citrus hops, bread, yeast, mango, pineapple rind, and lemon with a malt forward and alcohol present aroma. These smells are unique in their mixture and begs one to take a big gulp.

Taste-It starts with a sweet smoky Vermont syrup based malt which is laced with a citrus hop-forward flavor that then gives way to the lemon, yeast, mango, pineapple, bread, toffee, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, and oak. The flavor is well-balanced and astringent. The alcohol burn is pleasant and to be expected with this whopping 11.5% beast. It quickly cuts the syrup sweetness and plays well with the carbonation which is present and amusing.

Mouthfeel-It has a mild syrup texture which competes with the tinge from the hops and carbonation. Each of these are defeated by the fatal punch of the powerful alcohol. Watch out Mortal Kombat players, you got a Fatality here! The aftertaste is sweet and bitter as well as resinous and pleasant. Take another gulp! Hell yeah!

Overall-I absolutely love this beer which I was almost afraid to try, but was pleasantly surprised. It is one of those beers that you need to drink slowly or else you’ll be defeated quickly by Shao Khan! Absolutely amazing flavors and aromas! BRUTALITY!!!

Appearance: Puts on a nice bubble show, with the head settling in at just over two inches; the liquid is copper and clear; the retention is excellent though lacing is sparse

Smell: Smells surprisingly sweet for the style, more like a barleywine, with caramel tones buttressing the piney hops

Taste: Rather sweet, up front, with the caramel tones dominating; by the time the piney and grassy hops make an entrance, the boozy character starts to impact the profile; aggressively harsh, after the swallow and through the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with moderate carbonation; lots of warmth in the gullet

Overall: Surprised I haven't tasted this one before and it has been a long time since I have ventured in Flying Dog territory; love the artwork but am finding this beer to be harsh, unbalanced and somewhat one-dimensional in the flavor profile of both the malts and hops

Double Dog pours a clear bronze color. It has a nice stately looking foam tan head that is about the length of a long thumb. Great retention, creamy film and sudsy lacing.
A whiff of tropical fruit hits the nose at first. After that, the aromas are malt forward, with brown sugar and caramel malt leading the way.
Going into my mouth it is immediately evident that this is a strong DIPA with a gooey, full bodied sweetness. It would seem at first that it is one of those malt forward DIPAs that emphasize caramel malt. However, it soon becomes clear that this bad boy...err...dog...has a high IBU count. The hops nearly burn the mouth with their spice. There is also a strong resiny and bitter pine finish. All throughout, the full malt backbone continues to display its sticky and chewy sweetness, always interplaying with the hops. However, it bears to mention that this is a high ABV DIPA that does little to mask the alcohol warming.
I enjoyed drinking this DIPA, although the strong alcohol content tends to overshadow and keeps this in the good but not great category.

Alcohol....that is the one attribute of this beer that sticks with me more than any. It has a very strong aroma and the taste of alcohol is slightly overbearing. The the other underlying tastes amd aromas in the beer seem to be good but it is hard to decipher because the taste of alcohol is so mu h in the forefront. This beer is not for the weak of taste. I like it but it is best savored, at least in my case, in small amounts.

T: Very sweet, malty beer. More citrusy hops in the taste than the smell, but this is dominated by the sweetness and big alcohol.

F: Full.

O: I have a huge issue with them calling this a Double IPA. This is basically a malt-ball that severely lacks any substantial hop presence. More of a barleywine or old ale. It's a decent beer if you sit back and drink it for what it is... but the label and description is extremely misleading.

Flying Dog - The Truth is 100x better than this one if you're looking for a big IPA.

I admit I have been kind of a harsh critic on Flying Dog in the past but this beer erases a bit of that,poured a light copper color with a big fluffy 1one finger white head. If your a hophead like me the aromas are sublime deep resiny pine and grapefruit rind not much else just intense hoppy goodness,the flavors are not as intense but its still a hop driven palate no doubt very resiny like in the nose big pine elements with the citrus somewaht taking a backseat malt well its there but its in a dryer form and pretty well hidden.Iam burping hops so thats a good thing a good brew from Flying Dog.

Appearance - This beer is gorgeous! The body is a thick, rich, darkish orange shaded in a pleasant brown hue. The head is enormous but not overly foamy. It is off-white and would have stayed the night had I let it. When I finally started sipping it down it left a heavy film with beautiful latticework on the inside of my St Bernardus glass.

Smell - This malty beast has an abundance of smells. The malt is a combination of heavy maple syrup and light chocolate over top a backbone of thick, rich grain. The hops are huge but somewhat hidden by the malts. There's a stiff resiny pine followed quickly by a strong aroma of tangerine. The grand finale of this bouquet is a lovely collection of fresh fruits led principally by raisins and figs.

Taste - I hate to say that this isn't hoppy, because the hops again are huge at the taste, but this malt profile is a monster. It comes off just as it did in the nose, so ditto from above.

Mouthfeel - This is full-bodied and slippery on the tongue with a bitterness that would be overpowering except for the abundance of sweets. I don't really think that there's any alcohol in here because I can't taste any. They just put that 11.50% rating on the bottle to entice the college kids to buy it.

Drinkability - If it's possible to make a high-alcohol DIPA chugging ale then this is it. I mean, this goes down so quickly it's irresponsible to brew. The folks at Flying Dog should be tried and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

Update - Well, kind of a backwards in time update. I bought a case of this stuff two years ago and cellared some of it. I never wrote a review on the fresh bottles I drank so although this review is in Aug 09 I first tasted it in 2007 and this bottle I drank same-day as the fresh one was two years old.

Since this was such a malty DIPA I figured all the hops would be gone after two years, but surprising there was still a good amount left. They had blended more with the malt, but what surprised me was the rise in spicing. I picked up some light spices in the fresh bottle, not enough to really mention or even identify in my review, but after two years in the cellar they really came out. There's a nice herbal aroma like a mild oregano and some deep peppery notes along with some exotic spices that you'd find in an Indian or maybe Mediteranean dish. Overall though I'd say the ale was a little too broken town to be enjoyable and that this Double Dog, like most DIPAs, is best drank fresh off the shelf.

Update - Had the opportunity to try a fresh 2010 and it is exactly along the lines of my original review. It is one of the most beautiful beers that I've ever seen, definitely a 5 in its Appearance, and incredibly drinkable again with a 5 rating. The 4.5's that I gave it are agonizingly close to 5s.

This is truly an exceptional ipa. From beginning to end this double ipa lets you live the great wonders of hops, hops, and more hops any time you need.
Pours mid-orange with a one inch off white head that drops to a foamy top that last the whole 12ozs. Leaves nice lacing letting you know that this beer has body.
The smell is of piney hops, rich malts and alcohol.
The taste is similar to the smell but has an excellent balance allowing you to enjoy the hoppy goodness and still get the buzz of the 11.5% alcohol content it carries.
Very easy to drink for me mostly because i love a ipa in any standard, but i think others will enjoy also.

A: Dark coppery in color, clear with a careful pour, with a light frothy head. Head quickly recedes to a thin layer. Good lacing.

S: Fantastic floral hops dominate the nose. If you look for them, there are some very light caramel malt aromas beneath the hops.

T&M: Taste is that of a flow of fresh hops riding a wave of caramel malts, all crashing over the tongue in a creamy curl. Light carbonation works well with the entire mix. Although malty, the finish is fully bitter, with just the faintest bit of malt on the linger and a touch of warming.

D: Although the ABV is pretty heavy with this brew, the alcohol is well masked by the malts and hops, making the brew easy to drink, though the ABV does catch up to you plenty fast enough.

A - Deep amber with some red hues. Pours with a big head that fades to a covering, moderate carbonation, and a bit of lace.

S - Lots of citrus and pine up front with some sweet caramel on the follow through.

T - Hop blast up front, but a nice load of malt to go with it. The hops continue throughout and there is a nice alcohol bit on the finish.

M - This is a deceptively large beer. This could easily be syrupy and a bit heavy, but I think it has a nice moderate body and the carbonation and alcohol make for a nice clean finish for such a big beer.

D - This beer is big, but I think remarkably drinkable. It finishes much cleaner than something with a 11.25% ABV. This is a straight forward and very good beer.

12oz bottle. 2008 Vintage. Pours into my glass a deep red/orange with good clarity and a half inch of light tan foam on top. Aromas spring out of the glass with dense caramel malts topped by a heavy handed amount of piney, citric, oily hops. Notes of grapefruit and herbal hop resins abound. Somewhat earthy as well.

First sip brings thick caramel and sweet bread malts across the palate that immediately sweep into a whirlpool of hops. Citrus and pine flavors intermingle with grapefruit accents and earthy, herbal hops resins working their way around each sip. As it flows down I get a slightly roasted flavor, some alcohol and a bold bitterness on the back of the palate. A bold hop monster that also has plenty of malt to back it up. Tasty brew.

Mouthfeel is big, chewy and viscous...it really grabs hold as it goes down. Overall, easily one of my favorite Flying Dog offerings I've had so far. I can't see drinking more than a couple of these, but this one is well worth checking out for the hop lovers out there.

Pours with over an inch of light tan head. Reduced to a dense layer on top that wraps its way up the glass with a strong hold. Cloudy orange, caramel body. Outside of the cloudy body this has superb head and retention for a beer of this size.

Piney, citrusy, and even some tropical fruits. It smelled strongly of pineapple when I first popped the top. Pretty strong aroma, lots of hops as expected. Little malting comes through.

Interesting flavor. Has a definate strong malt backbone which I have a hard time pinning down. Lots of hops over the top, floral and citrus. Has a little biscuit in the finish and then some pine resin finish.

Good medium to full mouthfeel. Slight carbonation level, could use a bit more to add a crispness. Coats the mouthwell. Flavor lingers, but not overly bitter.

Pretty good drinkability. Nicely hopped and pretty balanced overall. A good beer for sure.

A 12oz bottle with Vintage 08 stamped on the label. Poured into a pint glass, it was a red/orange color with a thin tan head. Aroma was all citrus. A strong taste of grapefruit. Not too intense, but still plenty hoppy. Nice lingering bitterness. Quite drinkable, but be careful of the 10.5% ABV.

Poured from the 12 oz bottle into a pint glass - noticed a surprising amount of head right away. The swirling and churning inside the glass as the head receded was quite pleasant actually.

Appearance - Amber color, mysterious, semi-opaque. The lacing really

Smell - I could smell was grapefruit and hops, enjoyable and refreshing.

Taste - When it hits your tongue it is almost too sweet when it hits the front sweet receptors on the tongue. But then the bitter/citrusy flavor overpowers the initial sweetness. As the beer warmed up towards the bottom of the glass, the bitterness seemed to mellow out a bit.

Mouthfeel - Not too carbonated. Very heavy on the tongue, almost syrupy. Definitely my one of my favorite aspects of this beer.

Drinkability - I wanted another, but it's so damn alcoholic at 11.5% abv, you have to watch yourself. I've only found them bottled in packs of four, which makes sense...

The few millimeters of microscopic bubbles present like a traditional macrobrew. Though the foam cap has impressive staying power, there is nothing distinguished about it. Its relative darkness gives this double pale ale a malty mug. For what it's worth, this head looks like it would last forever were it left undisturbed....

As I cram my nose into the snow-like sop, I smell a much hoppier concoction than I see. It's not like a traditional India Pale, and there's certainly no citrusy pineapple California in this one, but its nose IS a hopped-up pale ale. True to its label description, though, there is a malty sweetness in the scent. It reminds me of a DFH 90min.

The taste is surprisingly good. The body is light like its translucence and hopped-up with a malt-kiss like the smell. It's exactly what it purports to be. If you give bonus points for subtle or hidden alcohol, this one seems far from the 11.5% it reportedly carries! I'm venturing into mouthfeel here, but this beer is like a hoppy rice cake--if rice cakes were enjoyable and satisfying. What I'm getting at is that there's a great juxtaposition here between the light look and airy feel of this liquid as compared to its hop presence and 11.5-ness. Editor's note: wifey just took a sip and said "Whoa. How strong is this?" Ascertain for yourself my inherent biases. To me, it tastes great and is less filling.

When I inevitably saw the A- rating here (I still wish I could somehow avoid that just before a review), I thought I'd negatively skew the average. Maybe I should get off my high horse and quit buying only singles at my fancy wine & craft beer store. $8.99/4-pack at my local Teeter, this jewel seems delightful. I might actually be compensating too positively because of expectations, but this is really a well-balanced, relatively easy-drinking double pale ale. Having read the label, however, I'll refrain from having a session with the Double Dog.

Pours a murky orange/copper with a solid inch of fluffy white foam on top. The head slowly dissipates and leaves a creamy cap on top of the brew along with substantial lacing on the sides of the glass.

Smells are very citrus focused - high hop rates (85 IBU) and scents of lemon/orange/pine.

Creamy mouthfeel that quickly gives way to a bitter hop bite and alcohol warmness. Bitter aftertaste remains on the palette for a while after sipping. I would like a little more malty backbone to stand up to this high alcohol, bitter double IPA.

I'm sure 12-24 oz. of this potent beer will good for one sitting. Very drinkable, but in smaller quantities.